Chapter Thirty-Eight.

The pool of nectar emitted a faint, golden glow that matched the translucent golden liquid that was slowly shifting around. Cameron looked at it hesitantly, clutching the fruit against his chest.

"Go ahead," the goddess told him. "You may return to your friends and family, and save those who mean everything to you."

"Yeah," Cameron nodded. "I was just… why are you here?"

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"Here," he said. "You're a goddess, aren't you? At least, you said you are, and you have the same powerful, overwhelming aura that my father had. Well, something similar to it."

She thought over her answer for a few moments, then nodded.

"I intentionally trapped myself here," she answered. "I ate two fruit, and then waited until someone else showed up. When they heard what the fruit did, I plucked the one they said they wanted to eat and gave it to them. It was consumed by him, leaving me in here for eternity."

"Why?" Cameron asked.

"Many reasons," she answered. "Though the primary of which was that your father sent my son into a prison. Rightly so, but it still broke my heart, and I chose to come here and live out the rest of my days."

"Ulfar?" Cameron suddenly felt very, very scared that he was facing the High Goddess of evil.

"No," she smiled. "My son hated Ulfar, your cousin whose mortal appearance was actually rather similar to his own, and even vowed to kill him, burn his body, and throw him into Oblivion the next time they met. I don't know what my son would go by now, if he managed to escape his prison, though he often took my original name as his family name. Narinis. My son had greatly upset your father by destroying something very, very sacred to him, and my brother swore he'd never free him for it. I don't blame him, but… in my grief, I bound myself to here, so that I could never know such sorrow again. He wasn't my first son to be punished or killed, and it saddened me so."

"Oh," Cameron looked down, thinking. "There's someone outside claiming to have the last name of Narinis. He said he's my cousin, but I thought he might've been Ulfar, since I'd just been told he was there by someone else."

"The only way to know for sure," she said. "Is to see his wings. Ulfar's wings are purest black and quite leathery, a testament to the darkness and demon within him, while my son's are the same blue as his eyes and feathery."

"So… he's a nephilim?" Cameron asked.

"Not quite," she smiled. "Any child of a High God has wings."

"I don't."

"When you can sense them," she told him. "Acquiring the ability to manifest and unmanifest them at will, that is the day that you finish puberty. This is true of all demigods born of a High God, and a sign that they are truly an adult."

"Oh," Cameron said, then grinned. "I can't wait until I finish puberty, then. I'll be able to fly around with Greyson lots!"

"Don't be in too much of a rush," she said. "You'll age rapidly as a result unless you hold yourself back, if you want to finish puberty quickly."

"Right," Cameron sobered up, then gave her another grin. "It'll still be cool. I hope it's not too far out. And that I get lots of growth spurts before then."

"Good luck," she told him. "I'll be quite surprised if that's my son, your father is known for his grudges, and for never backing down when he decides on a punishment."

"Okay," Cameron said, then thought for a moment. "If he is your son, is there something you want me to tell him? I'm not ruffling his hair, then fixing it for you."

Narinis laughed in response to that.

"I can see you've met your father," she said. "Tell him that I do still love him, and that I wish he hadn't eaten the fruit."

"The fruit?" Cameron asked. "Wait – he's been here?"

"It was where we were when Ulrima grabbed him," she nodded. "As High Gods, we can ordinarily move in and out of here, under the right conditions. The only way to prevent us from leaving is to do what I did. My son had eaten the violet fruit and the clear one, just like you."

"But why?" Cameron asked. "Was his divinity bound?"

"No," she looked sad. "He did it to strip it away. He intentionally gave up his divinity, considering it a curse."

"Oh," Cameron looked at the fruit in his hands. "I should get going. I'm going to give this to Titania."

"Good luck," Narinis smiled at him. "And farewell, Cameron. Though I do think 'Ambrosius' suits you."

Cameron pulled a face, and she laughed, then gestured to the pool. He nodded, then stepped into it. Even though it looked like magic honey to him, it was silky in texture and very unsticky.

A few more steps, and he was submerged to his neck, the fruit already beneath the surface. Another step, and his head went under as he thought about Titania and giving her the fruit.

The next thing he knew, he was standing in the warehouse, beside Greyson and Eden, who were busy talking with Callum. The demigod-possibly-a-demon looked at him, then the fruit in his hands.

"Who is that for?" He asked.

"Titania."

"Are you insane?" Callum asked. "Do you have any idea what that'll do?"

"Yes, I do," Cameron asked. "It's what she seeks, and so, it's what I'll give her. You can open a gate to the Fairy Forest, can't you?"

"I am not letting you give that to her!" Callum exclaimed as the others in the warehouse began staring. "Cameron, you know what that'll do!"

"Yes, I do," Cameron smiled. "As does she. Now. Before you open a portal there, I need you to remove your hoodie and shirt, and show me your wings."

"Why?" Callum's face turned red.

"To verify you're who you say you are, and not Ulfar."

Callum cast his gaze downward, then slowly pulled his hoodie over his head, the lesser angels who'd come to help heal people while the stronger ones stayed at the Fairy Forest to fight the Fairy Empress watching intently.

Callum handed his hoodie to Eden, then pulled off his shirt, and a moment later, a pair of the most beautiful wings Cameron had ever seen before manifested behind the demigod. The same rich blue as his eyes, with flecks of gold, they drew the eye of everyone in the room.

For the full three seconds they were out. Callum quickly unmanifested them, then pulled his shirt and hoodie back on.

"Satisfied?" He asked quietly.

"My dad let you out."

"He, um, thought you and I could connect," Callum muttered. "Made me promise to protect you. Gave me the ring so that your mind magic wouldn't work on me, it's partially imbued with his essence, much like your amulet."

"Your mother said she wished you didn't eat the fruit."

"And Titania should never eat that one," Callum told him.

"Trust me on this," Cameron told Callum. "I will give this to Titania, then I will kill that bitch myself."

"A distraction," Callum realized. "You plan on distracting her with it for the opening. But if you don't do it in time-"

"I'll have plenty of time," Cameron told him. "Please take me there, Callum. Your mother was the one who put this idea in my head. Please, trust her."

"She was a fool," Callum muttered. "Uncle Ulri told me what she did. I wish I could travel there freely."

"Maybe one day," Cameron shrugged. "Please, Callum? We need to hurry, there's no telling how bad things might be."

Callum nodded, then placed a hand on Cameron, teleporting them above the frozen Fairy Forest. A lot of damage had been done to the sculptures by the fight, which was still going on.

Cameron could see Adam preparing some sort of spell with the Ambrosius Staff, and got a bit annoyed. He wasn't dead, and he was most certainly not going to get stuck in another realm forever. That staff was his.

"IIIII'M BAA-AAAACK!"

The fighting stopped immediately, though Cameron sensed that it might have begun to before he hollered that, which was, admittedly, mostly to get Adam's attention. The ancient mage looked a bit shy at the moment.

"Huh," Cameron said. "I didn't expect that to get everyone's attention."

"Cameron," Callum said as the younger boy realized they were floating in the air without wings.

"Are we flying with just magic?"

"Yes," Callum answered, and Cameron suddenly felt the knowledge of how to use space magic to alter gravity fill his head. "That's the spell. Anyway, it wasn't your shout. Your divinity's unbound, and you aren't concealing it. It's very noticeable, considering how powerful you are. That's why everyone was looking at you in the warehouse."

"Ah," Cameron said, then tried out the spell for himself, falling for a few moments until he caught himself, then brought himself back to Callum's level. "You're powerful, right? Like, more powerful than almost everyone here?"

"Yeah."

"Make sure no one interferes when I give this to Titania," Cameron said, then fixed his gaze on the stunned Fairy Empress. "Titania! I have what you want!"

She narrowed his gaze on him, but flew forward as the other mages, demigods, nephilim, and angels began to fly towards them.

"That won't bring Oberon back!" She said. "We wanted it for Oberon, Cameron! With how much you and your friends destroyed him, he'll be impossible to resurrect! No! I wanted a different one!"

"Oh, right," Cameron said as she drew near, his allies watching cautiously as Callum flexed his powers. "So, uh, Callum's mother told me something. She said that you had a sort of marriage soul bond with Oberon?"

Titania looked hesitant, then nodded.

"Narinis said that if you ate this," he said. "Because of that soul bond, it'd have its effect on him. Even though he's dead, it'll grant its effects to him, rather than you. It'll only work 'cause you two are bonded together."

"And you're giving it to me?"

"On the condition that you leave me and my friends alone," Cameron nodded. "Once Oberon's back, I'll reopen the portal for you. I have enough connection to the Great Tree left to do it. You'll be able to achieve your goal. Swear it on your magic, or I'll destroy this fruit in an instant."

Titania considered it for a moment, then nodded.

"I swear on my magic that I agree to your conditions," she said.

Cameron held out the silver, pear-shaped fruit, and Titania took it, eating as the others began to try to stop them. Callum created a shimmering, blue and gold barrier to protect them, even though he wasn't sure why he wanted to go with Cameron's plan. He didn't know that tidbit about the-

He didn't know, and yet Cameron told it. They couldn't speak of the truth of the fruit. But then why would Cameron give her immortality? For that matter, why did his mother even know about Titania? He'd never heard of the fairies until after Ulrima had freed him from the prison to-

Oh.

Oh.

He looked at his cousin, who was grinning wildly as understanding dawned on him.

"Hey, Titania," Cameron said after Titania ate the fruit.

"What?" She asked coldly.

"Can I give you a hug?" He asked. "You did take such good care of me, and this'll probably be the last time we're together."

Titania hesitated, then nodded, floating against the young demigod, who wrapped his arms around her and began squeezing as hard as he could with all of his demigod strength, newly enhanced by his divinity.

"CALLUM! NOW!" He yelled.

Callum nodded, smiling at the ancient fae as he held up a hand, sending a strike of hot force magic at her neck, severing it from her head. The heat from the spell cauterized it, preventing it from bleeding all over his cousin, who released Titania, and the fae began to fell.

"By the way," Cameron said. "That's my loot. Well, mine and Callum's. So we are the ones who are selling it or using it. Not any of you."

"If you fed her the fruit of immortality," an Angel King flew towards them once Callum removed the barrier and cast a spell to catch the body and head. "Then how did you kill her?"

"The truth of the fruits cannot be revealed outside of the realm of the Great Tree," Alex stated, joining them. "The boy used a simple deception on her, making her think it'd grant her husband immortality when it wouldn't. There's a chance that wasn't even a fruit from there – nigh every depiction has them as apples, does it not?"

Callum did his best not to snort when he heard that bit of information. The ancient mage, he sensed, knew the truth of the matter – that Titania had eaten of the silver fruit before. His mother must have told Cameron that when he was choosing his fruit. In her fury and grief, Titania hadn't remembered the crucial rule of that realm, one that bound itself into them the moment they entered.

And it cost her her immortality, an immortality no one knew she had.

"Now," Cameron looked at Adam. "I want my staff back."

"Uh, it's my staff."

"No," Cameron said. "It was Merlin's staff, then he died and you looted it off his corpse. Then, you lost it. It was lost for a thousand years, discovered, sold, and I bought it. So it's mine. We have an agreement, remember? Don't make me sic my dad on you. I've got my divinity unbound, I can do it."

Adam meekly held out the staff, which Cameron grabbed, then promptly whacked him over the head with before glaring at the small army of angels.

"Which of you fuckers wants to kidnap me, kill me, turn me to your side, use me against my father, or do something else which I or my father would find rather unpleasant?"

More than half of them shifted, looking uncomfortable.

"Do you think you can take me?" Cameron asked, before promptly falling out of the sky.

He caught himself, reactivating his spell, then flew back up to them.

"Well?" He asked as several of the spectators tried not to laugh. "Oi! Cuz! Kick their asses!"

"I'm not your guard dog."

"Didn't you say that's why my dad freed you?"

Callum sighed, then extended his hands, and all of the angels there gathered with their own teammates as those able opened gates to hastily leave the realm.

"I guess my reputation precedes me," Callum muttered.

"Whoa," Cameron looked at him in shock, losing focus of his spell for a few seconds. "I really need to get the hang of this. What language was that? How come I could understand it?"

"Your father is literally a god of love," Callum snorted. "You can speak every language, much like me for having a mother who's a goddess of travelers."

"Didn't know that," Cameron said. "Though that does explain why I could understand the workers arguing at that French restaurant Adam took me to during one of my training lessons."

Adam snorted in response, and Cameron looked around at the remaining angels.

"Anyone else wanna be my enemy?" He asked. "I'm a lot stronger now, now I've unbound my divinity. It was my aunt who did it. She's really nice. I told her 'bout what was going on, and she offered to unbind it for me so I could be a lot stronger, in case the plan to kill Titania failed."

"That's a lie, if I ever heard one!"

"Damn, that lady angel is beautiful."

"Of course she is! She's an angel!"

"Does your great-uncle really have a pencil behind his ear? That's one of the stupidest places to put them for a fight."

"Yeah, he should've put it in an enemy's eye or something."

Cameron exhaled through his nose, closing his eyes as the voices starting chatting again. Why did he ever miss them?